The State - News from Dec. 9, 1987

A former advertising salesman for KDOC-TV in Anaheim has been awarded $256,000 by a Santa Ana Superior Court jury in his wrongful termination lawsuit against the station’s parent company, two of its managers and the station’s talk show host, Wally George. Steve Conobre, 66, claimed that he was fired three years ago, partly because he refused to use phony viewer ratings in his sales pitch. He claimed that the false sales pitch was ordered by then-station manager Michael Volpe. The jury awarded Conobre $181,000 in general damages and ordered the station’s owners, Golden Orange Broadcasting Co. Inc., to pay him $50,000 in punitive damages. Charles Brack, one of the company directors, and Volpe were ordered to pay $10,000 each in punitive damages. The jury assessed George $5,000 in punitive damages. Conobre claimed George tried to get him fired after he complained about the right-wing talk show host’s pursuit of a married female advertising executive.